St. Mary's County

 Gustavus Brown                           

Gustavus Brown was born at Maiden Side near Edinburgh Scotland in 1744. He studied for seven years at Edinburgh and received his MD from the University of Edinburgh in 1770. His thesis was De Cynanche Phlogist. Dr. Brown married widow of Dr. Ireland, but left no issue. He was sent for to attend to President Washington in his last illness, but hearing of his death on the way, he returned home without seeing him. Dr. Brown was an eminent practitioner of St Mary's County. He died at Summerseat in St Mary's County on July 3, 1801.

Source: Medical Annals of Maryland (1899)

The first Dr. Richard Brown was born in Scotland in 1689. He came to Maryland in 1708 on one of the King's ships that came to the Chesapeake Bay. He returned to Scotland for a few years, but came back to Maryland in 1734 and purchased "Rich Hill" near Port Tobacco in Charles County. He had 12 children by his first wife, and two by his second wife, one of whom was Gustavus Richard Brown.

Dr. G.R. Brown (1) acquired a large and lucrative practice in Charles County. In 1729, he was appointed to lay out the eventual town of Port Tobacco. He had two sons by his second wife, one named Richard, and the other name Gustavus Richard Brown (2), who was born in Port Tobacco on 17 October, 1747. Dr. Brown (1) died in April of 1762. He left his lands in Scotland to Richard and the lands in Maryland to Gustavus (2)

Gustavus (2) was educated in Scotland and after "walking" in the London hospitals for several months, he returned to Maryland via the Madeira Islands and brought home a collection of rare plants and flowers. He married and had four children, including Gustavus and Gustavus Richard (3)! 

"As is well known," Gustavus (2) was called in consultation to George Washington's las illness by his old friends Drs. Craik and Dick. Washington was a personal friend and neighbor (across the Potomac at Mount Vernon) and was already dying when Gustavus arrived. The combined efforts of the three physicians were to no avail. 

Dr. Gustavus Brown (2) died at his home at Rose Hill at age 56 on 30 September, 1804.  

 

Elijah Jackson                               

Elijah Jackson was born at Philadelphia. He married Miss Mary McWilliams of St. Mary's County, Md. where he practiced medicine and died when quite young. He left one daughter, who married Ge.n James Forrest in 1819.

Source: Medical Annals of Maryland (1899)

The parentage and birthdate of Elijah Jackson are unknown, but tradition states that he was born in Philadelphia to a family of physicians. Although it is not known where he studied medicine, Jackson was one of the founders of the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty, which met in Annapolis in January of 1797 [sic]. He practiced medicine in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, and there, married Mary McWilliams, daughter of Thomas and Mary Ann Mattingly McWilliams. Their only child, Emily, married General James Forrest in 1819. Unfortunately, Dr. Jackson died 14 years before this event on August 25, 1805, of injuries sustained in a fall from a horse.

     Source: Federal Gazette, Baltimore, MD  September 2, 1805

 

William Lansdale                       

William Lansdale was born about 1765, the youngest son of Philip Lansdale who came from County of Middlesex, England and settled at Enfield Chase, Prince George County, Md. marrying Miss Van Horn of Philadelphia. He received the diploma of the Royal College of Physicians in London on February 14, 1786. He then moved to Leonardtown, St Mary's County, Md. where he practiced medicine. He married Miss Mary Reeder of St Mary's County on September 25, 1797. He left one daughter, Mrs. Dr. William Thomas of Cremona, St. Mary's County. Dr. Lansdale died after a short illness on March 1801, and was buried at Ellenboro near Leonardtown.

Source: Medical Annals of Maryland (1899)

 

William H. Roach                        

William H. Roach of St Mary's County, Md. Marked dead in 1809

Source: Medical Annals of Maryland (1899)

 

Barton Tabbs                                 

Barton Tabbs was born at Great Mills, St Mary's County, Md. in 1757. He was an Assistant Surgeon of seven independent companies in the Maryland Line in 1776 and served until 1783. He then settled for practice in St. Mary's County and was an Associate Judge. “He had an inordinate fear of lightning and would walk around his yard and watch the movements of the clouds and hail his man Friday every few minutes to ask if he thought a certain cloud would come up or pass around.” His daughters married Dr. Joseph Stone of St. Mary's County and Dr. McWilliams of Washington, D.C. Dr. James Thomas, the first Governor of the name, was his pupil. Dr. Barton Tabb died in St. Mary's County on October 13, 1818.

Source: Medical Annals of Maryland (1899)

 

Tabbs continued to serve as surgeon for the Seventh Regiment until his resignation on October 3, 1779. He returned to St. Mary’s County and became a very prominent figure in the community. In February of 1785, Tabbs was appointed as a justice of the peace. This position granted Tabbs limited powers to hear minor cases. He served as a justice of the peace intermittently from 1785-1793. On March 10, 1786, Tabbs was appointed a justice. He served as justice again in 1792 and 1793.

In the summer of 1794, Tabbs returned to military service. On June 18, he was appointed surgeon for the Twelfth Regiment of Maryland Militia. Tabbs remained the regimental surgeon until 1813. 

By 1795, Tabbs had remarried after the death of his wife Elizabeth Bond. His new wife was Helen Maxwell. The couple acquired copious amounts of land in Charles and St. Mary’s County and owned about twenty slaves by 1807. 

On January 20, 1798, Tabbs was appointed a founding member of the Medical and Surgical Faculty of the State of Maryland. This group was essentially the first group of faculty for the University of Maryland’s medical school. 

In 1807, Tabbs was given yet another public appointment, this time to the St. Mary’s Board of Agriculture. In 1808, he was one of multiple prominent men commissioned to divide St. Mary’s County into election districts. Tabbs was well-known not only for his multitude of public offices, but also for his fear of lightning. Stories say that he walked around his yard examining the clouds and would “hail his man Friday every few minutes to ask if he thought a certain cloud would come up or pass around.” 

After a life of dedicated military, medical, and public service, Tabbs passed away on October 13, 1818, at age sixty-one. He bequeathed his estate to his surviving children, Thomas Tabbs, Ann McWilliams, and Elizabeth Tabbs. Tabbs had some anxieties about his son’s ability to properly manage his inheritance. He asks his executors to employ their “utmost care and attention, to the person, morals, and conduct of [his] son Thomas Tabbs.”

At the time of his death, Tabbs was extremely wealthy. He owned hundreds of acres of land in St. Mary’s and Charles County.

Source: Archives of Maryland, Biographical Series